Heartbroken, Naomi prepared to move back to Bethlehem and told Ruth to return to her own family. Discover how modern technology is bringing ancient writings to light. In Bethlehem, Ruth sustained herself and her mother-in-law by gleaning kernels from the barley harvest.
One day, she met the owner of a field named Boaz, who received her kindly. In response, Boaz promised to take care of her, a symbolic acceptance of marriage Ruth After they married, Ruth bore Boaz a son named Obed, the future father of Jesse, who would become the father of King David. Follow the love triangle between Leah, Rachel, and Jacob.
All rights reserved. Culture People in the Bible. His generosity, as shown in this illustration by William Hole, encourages Ruth's mother-in-law. National Geographic explores notable biblical figures in our ongoing series People in the Bible, as part of our coverage of the history of the Bible and the search for sacred texts. By telling a story about the great grandmother of David, we find a pious woman who has adopted Yahwistic practices, rather than a Chemosh worshiping princess. It retells the story of the David by taking the same elements that caused this tradition to be excised in the Samuel and Kings, and presenting them in a positive light.
The custom of reading Ruth on Shavuot is first attested in Masechet Sofrim 18 , an eighth century non-canonical halachic treatise. The author of this midrash is impelled to ask the question precisely because no Talmudic tradition makes this connection, nor is there a reference to Shavuot in any of the Aggadic Midrashim on the book of Ruth. Moses Isserles too, in his glosses on the Shulchan Aruch , describes it as a custom, rather than halacha. Alexander Sender Schorr , who offers a very different reason:.
Please support us. However, even if if we were to accept an early authorship, the order of the Books in the Jewish Canon means that anyone who gets to the Book of Ruth already has Bethlehem as the city of David in the back of their minds. Horayot , Nazir , Sotah Jacob L.
Wright and Prof. Judah married a Canaanite women, who bore him children, who in their turn did not have children themselves Gen 38 , endangering his future as the founder of an Israelite tribe. The connection to this story is reinforced at the end of the Book of Ruth ends with a short reference to this story.
As Boaz and Ruth get married, they are thus blessed:. Thus, the book of Ruth might also serve as a corrective to the Judah and Tamar story in Genesis 38, since the birth of Peretz is referenced positively, and claimed to be from YHWH. Azeret is the common Rabbinic name of Shavuot see Rabbi Dr. Because it is known that the righteous are born and die on the same date b.
She holds a Ph. Her studies focus on Socio-cultural interpretation, Semantics, and Inner biblical interpretation. She is mostly interested in the windows that ancient texts open for us into ancient cultures and minds. She is also amazed by the extent to which reading ancient texts can improve our understanding of contemporary cultures and minds. Ruth Ruth was the daughter-in-law of Naomi and came back with her from Moab to the land of Israel after the famine.
Boaz in Hebrew means fleetness, strength. Ruth and Boaz become the great grandparents of King David. The description of Abraham having left his family and ancestral home to go to a distant land, is now reapplied to a woman, to Ruth. Women once drew water from a well for Jacob, but now young men do so for Ruth. Once, Midianites refused to feed the Jews leaving Egypt, and now Ruth the Midianite takes upon herself the task of getting food for her mother-in-law, Naomi.
Most affected is the character of King David, whom the Bible traces on one side to the somewhat tawdry story of Tamar, dressed as a prostitute, bearing a son from Judah, and on the other side, since David evidently had Midianite roots , to the story of Lot being seduced by his daughters in the dark while drunk, then bearing the child Midian. The Book of Ruth now gives David a different pedigree, wherein a young woman again meets an older man in the dark, while dressed up, and while he is slightly inebriated, she does not have a relationship with him, as the text moves toward marriage.
The Book of Ruth also offers a new conclusion to the Book of Judges, which ends with a horrific story of rape, murder, and near destruction of an entire tribe, all beginning in Bethlehem. The new ending is a story of love, kindness and creation of a positive future, also beginning in Bethlehem.
This pattern of constant change is evident from the beginning of the Book of Ruth. Balancing Gender Roles — It is no secret that the Bible is overwhelmingly androcentric. Not only is Ruth compared favorably with Abraham, but also to other forebears. The forefathers consistently went east, out of Israel, to seek a mate, while Ruth moves west, to Israel. Furthermore, the women are constantly central. Ruth and Naomi carry this book forward almost to the end.
It is these women who plan, initiate and develop the plot. Envisioning Perfection — A related phenomenon is seen in the characterization of Ruth. It is well-known that the Bible presents all human beings with their faults. As Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz once pointed out, there is but one biblical character with no faults cited: Ruth. It is as if the book cries out that perfection is possible. Accepting the Outsider — The Bible tells a mixed tale concerning integration and intermarriage.
Both are clearly discouraged by a number of biblical texts for reasons ranging from religious, to ethnic, to historical. Nevertheless, at the same time, the Bible records numerous examples of integration and intermarriage, from the inclusion of the mixed multitude in the Exodus, to the marriages of forefathers and Kings, to many incidental mentions of children of mixed marriages one of whom did all the copper work in the Temple.
Here, the Book of Ruth, in focusing on the full integration and marriage of the Moabite woman Ruth, takes its stance at the integrationist end of a biblical range of testimonies.
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